The present invention relates to a steering column device, and more specifically to a steering column device having a tilt adjustment function and a telescopic adjustment function for adjusting a position of a steering wheel.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/066070 (corresponding to Japanese Patent No. 4567040) discloses a steering column device having a tilt adjustment function for adjusting a position of a steering wheel in upward and downward directions, and a telescopic adjustment function for adjusting the position of the steering wheel in forward and rearward directions.
In general, in the tilt adjustment function (mechanism), the steering column is supported to be swung in the upward and downward directions about a tilt hinge pin provided to a front end side of the vehicle. The steering column device includes a vehicle body mounting bracket which is disposed to bridge the steering column, and which has side walls. The side walls of the vehicle body mounting bracket include tile elongated holes through which a bolt of a clamping device for lock/unlock at adjustment is inserted. The steering column device can perform the tilt adjustment in ranges of the elongated holes.
Moreover, in the telescopic adjustment function (mechanism), the steering column device includes a distance portion of the steering column. The distance portion includes a hole through which the bolt of the clamping device is inserted. This hole of the distance portion is an elongated hole extending parallel to an axis of the steering column. The steering column device can perform the telescopic adjustment in ranges of these elongated holes.
The steering column device of the above-described patent document includes a movable bracket and an intermediate bracket of the steering column which have, respectively, elongated holes of the telescopic adjustment. A lock shaft (lock bolt) is inserted into the elongated hole (telescopic adjustment hole) of the movable bracket. A connection shaft is inserted into the elongated hole (laterally elongated hole) of the middle bracket. With these, it is possible to perform the telescopic adjustment within the ranges of these elongated holes.